Douala Administrative Garage: vehicle repairs no longer possible

Besides registering 56 cars in 2014, the structure merely delivers driving authorisations.

The Douala Administrative Garage now seems to be a forgotten place. Even though the Littoral Region has two of such garages - in Douala and the Moungo Division - none is currently functional, unless in the area of delivering driving papers for State vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Administrative Garage is supposed to issue driving authorisations and documents on the condition of administrative vehicles, register newly acquired administrative vehicles, assign the vehicles for various uses, control the use of vehicles and administrative transport, and as well determine when an administrative vehicle should be sold.

In both locations, administrative vehicles are sent to private garages where the government ends up spending more on repairs because Administrative Garages have been neglected. Administrative vehicles are instead taken to garages owned by friends or relatives, where fake exorbitant bills are arranged.

In some instances, bills are made and funds disbursed without verification of spare parts that were never bought because the original parts in the vehicle were never bad. Consequently, much money is lost every year from State coffers to such dubious deals when it could have been saved if Administrative Garages were fully operational.

The garage in Douala now serves as a virtual warehouse, with numerous rejected State property such as coffins secured during the 2007 Mbanga Pongo plane crash, old office tables, chairs, shelves, among others.

“We registered just 56 new vehicles last year, indicating that many government services don’t use the garage,” explained Samuel Damase Ngosso IV, the Interim Head of the Administrative Garage, who is also Service Head for State Property at the Littoral Regional Delegation of Land Tenure and State Property.

Some of the challenges, he pointed out, involve lack of information from Yaounde, making it hard to know the number of State vehicles in the region, inadequate equipment, lack of financing as well as the fact that some officials do not follow the procedure of registering and securing driving authorisations from the Administrative Garage before using their vehicles.